


Ship of Death: Autumn and the Falling Fruit

by Jen Hall (Greenlady)



Series: Ship of Death [4]
Category: Starsky & Hutch
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, F/M, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-11
Updated: 2010-10-11
Packaged: 2017-10-12 14:27:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/125833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greenlady/pseuds/Jen%20Hall





	Ship of Death: Autumn and the Falling Fruit

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Part Four: Autumn and the Falling Fruit  
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***************************

'The madness is, that I am in danger because they suspect me of being a necromancer, and I am not one. If I were truly a necromancer, as they wrongly suspect, I would be in no danger at all.'

'That isn't the madness,' said Ken Hutchinson, tartly. 'The madness is that you talk to me in public as if I were visible to everyone around you.'

'That is their loss, and my gain,' said David Starsky. He waved his hands to indicate the Cairo market place. Or perhaps the entire city of Cairo itself.

'And the only real danger you are in,' Ken went on. 'Is of being locked in a lunatic asylum.'

'You would get me out,' said Starsky. 'Steal the keys, and open wide the doors.'

'Yes, it is best to make plans ahead of time,' said Ken. 'You never know when you might need them.'

He looked Starsky over carefully. He appeared to have aged little in the ten years since Ken had joined him in this time. Despite all of their adventures and hardships, Starsky's smile still outshone the sun. They had beaten the odds, he thought. He had held out, suffered the loneliness and the dangers, all so Starsky would be safe. And Starsky had survived. He was not searching for Ken, down the centuries. He would live and die here, among his own people, for whom Ken Hutchinson was an evil spirit, but a dangerous one, and not to be trifled with.

They had tracked down the rivers of gold. The Hutchinson fortunes had been made. David Starsky had earned his share, but most of it, he had invested in the Hutchinson Enterprises.

'Wealth is power,' he had said. 'But for me, too much wealth is deadly. They will say I am an alchemist, and a necromancer. That I made a pact with Satan himself, and he led me to the gold fields. Far better to say the gold belongs to the strangers, the Norsemen. Everyone knows they are explorers and pirates. The Starsky family will be your bankers. Rich enough, but not too rich.'

Judith Levy was a good wife, brave and strong and faithful. As Starsky admitted, it was she who truly ran the family business. During their travels, their son had been born, but great passion had never truly sparked between them. For that, he still turned to Ken.

'A good wife is above rubies,' Starsky had declared, one wild night. 'But a good lover better than strong wine.'

'You misquote scripture,' said Ken. 'You do that a lot.'

'I learned it from you. You inspire me to write my own scriptures. Perhaps you will even make of me an alchemist before the end.'

'Behold!' said Ken. 'I have created a monster.'

And therein lay the danger. In his own time and place, heresy was a small matter. In Starsky's world, it was of vast importance. Starsky was a Jew, and already a heretic to the Christians. Now, he had become a heretic to his own people.

'Stop it,' said Starsky, out of the corner of his mouth.

'Stop what?'

'Stop feeling guilty. It is not your fault. And before you ask what is not your fault, let me just tell you that no trouble I find myself in is your fault. I have chosen my own road, and though it has been hard, it has its compensations.'

I hope so, thought Ken. I hope your life with me has not only been one of hardship and sorrow. Their eyes met, and for a moment, the bustling market place disappeared. A hut in the deepest jungles of Africa. A bedroom in the house at Luxor. A tent in the deserts of Egypt. It was all one. It was all home. He was at home in Starsky's heart.

'Let us conclude our business, and go home,' Starsky whispered. 'Judith is busy, and Simon is in school. We will have the afternoon to ourselves.'

'That sounds like a plan,' Ken answered.

The bustle of the market place returned. As always these days, the bustle flowed around them, but left a small space as a buffer zone. No one ventured too close to David Starsky, the necromancer. On the other hand, no one completely ignored him, either. The consensus seemed to be that Starsky was most likely a necromancer, but not, perhaps, an evil one. Starsky's guardian spirit was evil, and dangerous, but Starsky himself could be kind, and it was always best to stay on his good side.

The proprietor of one of the market booths bowed himself double as they approached. They were here in person, because Starsky insisted on doing a certain amount of business himself, rather than leaving it all to Judith or their servants.

'That way, they can see I have no horns, and my feet are not cloven,' he declared. And Ken reluctantly agreed.

'Master Starsky,' said the carpet seller. 'Welcome to my humble shop.'

Starsky nodded, politely. The proprietor offered him a seat, and poured glasses of wine. 'Kosher, I assure you,' he said. Starsky smiled, and sipped the wine. There were some members of his family who still protested his habit of eating and drinking so easily among those who were not of their faith, but he had made many friends this way.

'Whatever anyone says, I don't believe you are in league with Satan,' said this carpet seller. He was a Moor, tall and thin. 'You don't frighten me.'

'That is good,' said Starsky. 'And you are in the right. I have no love for Satan. I have never met him.'

'I have, I think,' said the Moor. 'Or if not Satan himself, one of his minions. And he seems to know of you. He's been asking about you.'

'Has he indeed?' asked Starsky. 'And what questions has he been asking?'

'About your business. Where you live. When you come to market. I gave him vague answers. Long stories that were not to the point. But I fear he asked around in other places and received more timely answers.'

I fear the same, thought Ken. What is this devil's name, I wonder.

'Do you recall this gentleman's name?' asked Starsky.

'It was a strange name. Very harsh and foreign. Gun. Gunder. Or something like.'

'I have never heard of him,' said Starsky, with a shrug. 'What business could he have with me?'

'I'll look around,' said Ken. 'And keep my ears open.'

 

************

They walked back through the market place, and on toward the Nile, and Starsky's house.

'Tell me what you are thinking,' Starsky commanded.

'I am thinking about dinner,' Ken admitted. 'And about our afternoon together.'

'In that order?' asked Starsky, with a smile.

'And I am wondering about this Gun, or Gunder,' Ken went on. 'Who is he? Why is he so interested in you?'

'Perhaps he has seen me from afar, and loves me. Perhaps he wonders if his advances would be welcome.'

'Perhaps,' said Ken.

'You don't sound very convinced,' Starsky noted. 'Am I so unattractive?'

'Starsky! Our friend the Moor described this man as Satan.'

'Or only one of his minions.'

'Or only one of his minions? That doesn't reassure me. Starsky, if Satan or one of his devils has fallen in love with you, I will call down fire from heaven to defend you.'

'I knew it,' said Starsky. 'You have lived in my age too long. You are becoming as superstitious as any of the worst of my relations. Satan and his minions? Hutch, not everyone is out to kill me. And I'm far too small a fish in this sea, for Satan even to know I exist.'

'No?' Ken muttered. 'How big a fish was Job? So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.'

'Hutch. Do you think I am a fool? I have been on to you a long time. Always I have known. There is more to all this than simple sacrifice.'

'More to what?' asked Ken.

'I am not a fool, remember?' Starsky growled. 'All those years ago. You went away, back to your own time. I went after you, because you were gone so long. You refused to speak of what you learnt. You gave me some child's tale, about liking your modern comforts too much. I am not a fool, Hutch. Something has been gnawing at your insides all these years. Gnawing away at your insides like a rat.'

'Pleasant image,' Ken observed.

'Like a rat. You watch me, like a dog with a bone. You turn my questions like... like... I cannot find the right analogy,' Starsky admitted. 'But I don't like it, though I've been patient all these years. Enough. Not everyone is out to kill me. You turn my questions like armour turns a knife!' he added, triumphantly.

Someone is out to kill you, thought Ken. Someone is always out to kill us both. And where did that knowledge come from? He grabbed Starsky's arm. 'Listen,' he hissed softly, as though someone might overhear him. 'You have enemies. We have enemies. Because we're rich. Because you can see and hear me, and no other can.'

'Kai Seljelid can,' Starsky pointed out.

'Yes. Some others can. Again, this does not reassure me. We still have enemies. Because you walk upon the earth as though you own it. Because you have beauty and strength to rival King David, and do not bow your head in submission when ordered.'

'Hutch.'

'I'm not suggesting you change. I love you the way you are. I want you to live a lot longer, that's all. I've guarded your back for ten years now. I know what I'm doing. Don't fight me.'

'Is that why you came to live with me? To guard my back?'

'Among other things,' Ken admitted.

'But still there is more to it,' Starsky persisted. 'You didn't want to join me at first. I had to go after you.'

'Look! We are almost home,' said Ken. 'Let's stop arguing. We don't often have an entire afternoon to ourselves.'

Starsky nodded. Long stretches of time alone together were rare. Stolen sweets, and all the more delicious for that. He opened the front door, and started to draw Ken inside.

'Wait!' said Ken. 'Who is that?' He pointed down the street. Someone had been following them, he thought. Someone who drew into a doorway, as soon as Ken noticed him.

'That?' asked Starsky. 'No one. Or maybe one of Satan's minions. Hutch!'

'Someone was following us, Starsky.'

'Yes. But they didn't need to do that to find out where we live. They could have asked at the market place. "Oh, I know where that crazy old Jew Starsky lives, with his demon familiar. Down by the river, just a few houses up." So why follow us? Come on inside, Hutch. Come out of the midday sun.'

It was good to share a bed without interruption. Good to watch Starsky sleep for a time, without fear someone would call him back to his family duties. Good to wake Starsky and rouse him to more and more passion and tenderness, and then to watch him sleep again.

Ken slipped out of bed, and went to the window. He drew back one of the curtains slightly, and peeked outside. Someone was standing watch, just down the street, from a sheltering doorway.

If thee be Satan's minion, or Satan and all of his minions together, thought Ken, I will call down fire from heaven to protect him. Beware!

**************

It was ten years since Kenneth Hutchinson had acted as a detective. Not that he had been idle and bored in all that time. Explorer. Bodyguard. Adventurer. Warrior. Gold miner. David Starsky's lover. All these things took up a great deal of his time and energy. But now his cop instincts were roused once more. In the last ten years, they had survived many attempts on David Starsky's life, but all of them had been open. The attackers had advanced head on. Pirates and brigands. Ken had shot some of them, and the rest fled from the evil spirit who guarded Starsky's tribe. Hostile tribes of Africans who resented their incursions into their territories. Starsky had offered to trade with them, and they'd become allies.

But this. This was stealth, which made it seem personal. Perhaps someone had a grudge against Starsky, and if so, how did he deal with that? Find out the reason for the grudge, he thought. Then track the grudger down and kill him.

Ken felt a pang around his heart, like the memory of something that had not yet happened.

'Hutch? Why are you out of bed? Out of bed and thinking. That's even worse.'

'Someone is watching the house, Starsky.'

'Yes? What would they see, even if they looked right into this window? Me, in bed alone. Fornicating with yourself is a sin, but not a crime. I believe it to be a waste, since I have a beautiful lover like you to fornicate with instead.'

'I don't think he cares about that,' said Ken. 'And you are taking this too lightly.'

'I don't take it lightly, Hutch, believe me. But ever since we got back to Cairo, you have been taking everything too hard. Our loyal watcher has fallen in love with me, and will soon begin to serenade me under the window. I hope he has a decent voice, or the neighbours will complain.'

'I don't like Cairo,' Ken announced, though he could not say why. 'And I don't like that man watching the house. I doubt he wants to serenade you, but I'm going to find out what it is he does want, and soon.'

'Hutch!'

'When you get out of bed and go to spend some time with your family, I will investigate. I have nothing better to do, now that we're in Cairo.' Maybe that's why I don't like it here, he thought. I'm bored. Perhaps I'll become a private investigator. Turn my invisibility into an asset. In the meantime....

'Come back to bed, Hutch,' said Starsky. 'We have so little time to ourselves. Let's not waste it.'

Fair enough, thought Ken. I will comply, for now, since you think only of your body's needs, and nothing of its safety.

Starsky opened his arms, and drew Ken into their circle.

'I know you worry for me,' he whispered. 'But you need not. I have everything I need right here. Love me, and I will be safe.'

If only that were true, thought Ken.

************

The man was still watching the house, when Ken managed to escape Starsky's tender clutches at last. Up close, he looked even more thuggish, and not at all like a gallant suitor. He was dressed in western fashion, but his clothes were rough, not any sort of recognizable livery. He looked Germanic, thought Ken. Plebeian. A servant, but not from some great house. His master was no prince, nor even of the patrician class. A burgher. A merchant. But newly wealthy. Not established. Else why was his man watching Starsky's house? He must see Starsky and his new wealth as a threat. Or perhaps he was interested in its source, so he could take his own share?

All this passed through Ken's mind as he studied the man before him. His first instinct had been to exact instant revenge for the man's effrontery. Now he realized such an action carried its own dangers. The man was not acting on his own, for his own agenda. That was obvious. Who was he acting for?

'Bates!'

The voice came from the alley behind Ken. The watcher slipped back into the alley, and confronted the newcomer. They spoke in German. So, his guess had been correct, thought Ken.

Ken spoke German, but the men's dialect was unknown to him. He understood about half of what was said. Something about a man named Gunther. Their master, perhaps. He caught Starsky's name, and a few derogatory remarks about Jews. The man Bates did not believe in spirits, and was not afraid of Starsky's familiar. That would change, thought Ken.

The newcomer took his station across from Starsky's house. Bates headed off, probably for home. Ken debated with himself for a moment, but the newcomer didn't appear to be any immediate threat, Starsky was safely within doors, and the man Bates would lead him to his master, Gunther. All things being considered, he thought following Bates was the wiser course.

 

*******************

Bates made his way through the winding streets of Cairo, and Ken followed. He was beginning to feel like that character in the old radio drama, The Shadow.

'Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!'

Ken wished for Lamont Cranston's posse of agents, ready to track down information and feed it to him at a moment's notice, while he lurked about, practising his chilling laugh. Though none but Starsky, and one or two others could ever see him or hear his voice, he himself was not spared the sights and sounds of Cairo -- or the smells. Bates' route led him through the worst parts of the city, and soon Ken was lost, and beginning to doubt the wisdom of this enterprise. He wasn't in any real danger, he told himself, and Starsky was safe in their own home. But it looked as if Bates was only visiting a prostitute, and one of the poorest of the lot. Ken was wasting his time.

He was about to turn around, and try to find his way home, when Bates stopped, looked around carefully, and then surreptitiously ducked into a small doorway. He knocked at a door, and the door opened. Bates exchanged a word or two with an armed guard. Ken drew nearer, and when the guard stepped back to let Bates inside, Ken slipped in with him. The guard jumped back, as Ken brushed past. He looked startled for a moment. Bates didn't notice, as he hurried on.

This was not the dwelling place of an impoverished whore, thought Ken. Nor was it a brothel. A private household, and a rich one, from all appearances. A rich house, hidden here in the poorest part of the city. Bates' master, he thought. The mysterious Gunther?

A dog looked up and whined as Ken followed Bates through the winding hallways. Did the dog sense his presence, he wondered? Animals often seemed to do so, though only in a vague fashion.

Bates stopped outside a closed door, and scratched at it, softly.

'Come in,' said a voice, in German.

Bates entered the room, Ken behind him. Bates bowed, respectfully.

'Herr Gunther,' he said.

A string of words followed, of which Ken understood one word in ten. Something about Schmidt -- probably his replacement on surveillance. Something about Starsky. Ken listened more closely.

'He went indoors... he was speaking to someone not there... I think he is insane.'

'What you think is....' Herr Gunther used a term with which Ken was not familiar. Bates swallowed nervously, and ducked his head.

'Ja, ja. Entschuldigung! Starsky was speaking to someone I could not see, before he went indoors. That is all I know. He went indoors, and did not come out again.'

'Danke,' said Gunther. He spoke rapidly in German for several minutes, and Ken only caught one word he understood: die Mauer.

The wall, thought Ken.

Bates shuddered. 'Bitte....' he started to say.

Gunther shook his head. Again, something about die Mauer.

Bates' shoulders slumped. 'Ja, ja,' he said. 'Guten tag, Herr Gunther.' He bowed, and turned to leave the room.

Ken started after him, curious about this mysterious wall. But at that moment, another door in the room opened and a woman stepped in.

She wore a veil that covered her entire face and body, but she'd dispensed with the part that covered her eyes. Her eyes were dark, and piercing, and they looked right at Ken. She gasped, and let out a stream of Arabic, and this language Ken understood all too well.

'He is here, Master,' she said. 'The Spirit. He is here in the room. Right behind your man. He is here.'

'Bates?' roared Gunther. 'You have brought the spirit here with you?'

'Who? What?' asked Bates. They were all speaking in Arabic, now.

Ken didn't wait around to learn more. He shoved past Bates, into the hallway, past the dog. The dog jumped up, barking wildly. Confused and frightened. The woman ran out into the hall after him.

'There!' she shouted. 'There he is.'

A bullet whizzed past Ken's ear. To the left, he thought. That's the right passageway. To the left. He ducked down the hallway, and there was the front door. The doorman was in the very act of opening it to admit a new visitor.

'Don't let him out!' shouted Gunther.

'Who? What?' asked the doorman, echoing Bates.

Ken shoved past him, and out into the street. Bullets flew by, just barely missing his head. People in the street ran for cover. Children screamed. An innocent passerby fell down, blood streaming from his arm. He didn't seem to be dying, thought Ken, as he continued to run. People were shouting. The gunfire ceased. He glanced back, and the victim's friends were gathered around, giving him aid. Ken felt guilty, but what could he do to help? Perhaps he could discover the man's name, and send a good physician... and a fruit basket.

********************

'All things considered, that was not wise,' Starsky observed.

'I learned something,' said Ken.

'You learned what? That you are an idiot? I could have told you that.'

'I learned that it is me they are interested in,' Ken said, desperately.

'Interested? You mean they want to kill you? I suppose that's a sign of interest. But why? Why are they interested? Did you learn that?'

Ken paced up and down for a few minutes, trying to piece together the few scraps of information he had. 'They are German,' he muttered to himself. 'Some of them. Gunther. Schmidt. Why German? They have guns. Many guns. The man at the door was armed. The house. It was in the poorest part of Cairo. On the outside, it looked like a tenement. Herr Gunther. He mentioned a wall, and the servant, Bates... he blanched. Gunther insisted. Then the woman came in. She's one of us, Starsky. She saw me. She really saw me. Not like Kai Seljelid. Not like the dog. She looked right at me, and immediately knew what I was.' Ken stopped pacing, and looked at Starsky.

'What do you think this means?' asked Starsky.

'I don't know,' Ken admitted. 'What do you think this means?'

'I think they have a... a gateway. Like the one in our house at Luxor,' said Starsky.

'That's why a wealthy man is living in a slum.' said Ken.

'Yes,' said Starsky. 'And that is why they are interested in us.'

'At least we know that much,' said Ken. 'At least now we know something.'

'And they know more about us, too,' Starsky pointed out. 'They know we're on to them.'

'I'm sorry,' said Ken, hanging his head. Much like Bates, he thought.

'Don't be sorry,' said Starsky. 'You were trying to protect me. And yes, now we know. We know they want to kill you. Now what?'

'Now I'd like to go and kill them,' said Ken.

Starsky laughed and shook his head. 'That wouldn't be wise,' he said. 'We'll keep an eye out for assassins. We won't be intimidated. If only the woman can see you, you're not in too much danger. Stay away from that house, Hutch. We've almost finished our business here, and soon we'll be going home.'

'Home,' said Ken. 'Luxor.'

Home. Luxor. The staircase. Temptation.

'Yes,' said Ken. 'Soon we'll be going home.'

***************

'Stop looking about so nervously,' said Starsky. 'You are making me nervous.'

'Good,' said Ken. 'It's about time. You should have sent your servants to the market. That's what they're for.'

'And I should have stayed indoors, like a woman?'

Ken forebore to mention that such would have been the sensible course of action. Someone was spying on them, with evil intentions. Let them wear themselves out to no avail. Let them believe Starsky was a coward.

'I can't do that, Hutch,' said Starsky, as if reading his mind. 'I am not a nobleman. I would rather die here in the streets, than at home in my own bed. I would rather die for something I believe in, than for nothing.'

'What would you die for, if they shot you down now, like a dog?' asked Ken. 'Is that what you believe in?'

'Hutch!' Starsky looked hurt. 'Hutch! I would die with you beside me, standing up bravely. That's something I believe in.'

'We don't even know why they want to kill us,' Ken pointed out.

'Would it make a difference, in the end?' asked Starsky. 'They aren't going to kill us, here in the marketplace, with so many people around. Let's just get what we came for, and go home. We're leaving for Luxor soon, and we'll be safe there. You should go back to your own time,' he added, sagely. 'Just for a visit. You've been here too long.'

'What does that mean?' Ken snapped.

'It means you've been here too long,' said Starsky. 'You're forgetting who you are.'

'I haven't forgotten who I am,' Ken muttered.

It was an ordinary day in the Cairo marketplace. Crowded, hot and noisy. The smell of hashish drifted out from one of the nearby stalls, making him feel light headed. Perhaps it was that, which made him imagine the eyes watching his every move. Perhaps.

Or perhaps he should smoke more of it, he thought, as a shiver ran down his spine.

He heard the cry of the litter bearers behind him, and gently steered Starsky out of the way. The litter slowed as it moved up beside them. The litter curtains opened slightly, and a pair of dark, piercing eyes stared at him, from over a black veil.

Then the litter moved on.

*************************

'It was her, Starsky. I'm telling you, it was her.'

'She lives in Cairo, too. She was out for a walk through the market. Visiting her friends.'

'She saw me, Starsky.'

'Hutch. What do you want me to do? What can I do?'

Nothing, thought Ken. That's just it.

'We should leave for Luxor now,' he said. 'It's not safe here in Cairo. I can feel it.'

'I don't understand you, Hutch. You try to protect me too much. You've gotten worse over the years. What do you think I am?'

Ken sighed. All that I have in the world, he thought. That's what you are.

'Humour me,' he said out loud. 'We don't know what's going on. Someone sees us as a threat, and we don't know why. They're willing to kill me. Maybe you as well. How can we fight them, if we don't know what's going on? And you won't let me go back to spy on them.'

'No. I won't,' said Starsky. He came to Ken, took his face in his warm hands. Studied it closely. 'We'll go back to Luxor in the morning,' he said, at last. 'You look tired. I've been selfish, keeping you here with me for so long.' He kissed Ken gently. 'I'll go and tell the servants, and my wife. We leave in the morning.'

Ken turned and looked out the bedroom window. The watcher was back at his post. Schmidt? Gunther had not given up.

*************************

Morning came, clear and cold.

Ken had not slept well, in his lonely bedchamber. Starsky, he thought, had been arguing with his lady wife. About what, Ken didn't want to know. Probably about me, he thought. Perhaps it was time, as Starsky said, that he went back to his own time. For good though, not on a temporary basis. Time to let Starsky make a real marriage with Judith, without his lover waiting in the shadows.

'Hutch?'

Ken turned over. Starsky was standing by his bedside.

'Yes. I'm awake.'

'Good,' said Starsky. 'You sound tired, though. Didn't you sleep?'

'I'm fine,' said Ken.

Starsky bent down, took his face in his warm hands as he had the night before. 'Hutch, you are still the most important person in my life,' he said. 'No, listen. Whatever you think, you are the most important. I gave you my word, and I have kept it. Last night -- Judith wants another child. I said we should wait, but it's up to her. That is the wife's decision. I can't deny her my body, or children, if she wants them.'

'I see,' said Ken. Starsky had explained once, that by Jewish law, the husband owed his wife pleasure, not the other way around.

'She understands what is between you and me,' Starsky went on. 'As much as she can, she understands. She would never try to separate us.'

It was true enough, she never had, thought Ken. He climbed out of bed, and gathered his personal belongings. His body felt heavy, as though with remembered grief.

The first rays of the morning sun illuminated the little courtyard. The servants had been up for hours, getting ready for the journey. Ken settled on a bench by the doorway, and waited.

Judith bustled out, snapping orders to the servants, right and left. Ken smiled to himself. She was a good wife, and household manager, and nothing escaped her attention. She had probably already figured out where her husband's ghostly lover was sitting, and studiously avoided the area.

Starsky joined her, tossing a smile in Ken's direction.

His little son followed. Ken drew back into the shadows. Several times he thought Benjamin Starsky's eyes saw too much. The last thing he wanted was for Judith to fear that he was trying to take her son from her as well as her husband.

Benjamin looked around the courtyard curiously. He watched as the servants finished packing the family goods on the backs of the camels. He had learned long ago to stay well away from the animals, who tended to be cranky in the mornings. After a few minutes of this, he seemed to grow bored, and started back toward the house.

Then, his eyes lit fully on Ken, and he smiled with amazement, as if seeing him fully for the first time. Perhaps it was the first time. Neither Judith nor Starsky himself seemed to notice. Ken couldn't resist smiling back. The baby reminded him of Starsky when he was a child.

The servants opened the courtyard doors, preparing to start the outward journey. Judith turned to look for her son, and her face was a study in consternation as she saw where the child was headed.

'Ben!' she called. 'Where are you going?'

'Man. Nice man,' said Benjamin, pointing to the bench, which to almost everyone else in the courtyard was empty.

Starsky turned to look, and laughed a little, before he could help himself. Judith covered her face. The servants looked startled for a moment, but went on with their work soon enough. Over the last ten years, they'd seen stranger things.

'Yes, Ben,' said Starsky. 'Nice man. But go to your mother. Help her get ready. We're going home to Luxor, remember?'

'Yes, Father,' said the baby, and he turned to obey.

At that moment, several people burst through the courtyard doors. One of them was the veiled woman with the dark eyes. The other two were Bates and Gunther.

'There he is. By the bench,' said the veiled woman. Gunther and Bates drew their guns.

Benjamin was right in the line of fire. Ken flung himself in front of the child.

'No,' Starsky shouted, also throwing himself in the path of the bullets. The bullets hit him full in the chest. As Starsky fell, Ken drew his gun and fired. Gunther and Bates fell dead.

 

************************

Starsky was dying. Starsky was dying, and it was his fault. He had tried to protect Starsky, but failed.

Ken waited outside Starsky's room for a time, but every servant who passed by looked nervous and shaken, and after a while, he couldn't bear it. It was ironic, he thought, that his Cloak of Invisibility should have failed him at the most disastrous time. And now, when he needed human comfort, there was no one to see he was human. Benjamin had seen, but he'd been carried away, protesting every inch of the way.

The bodies of Gunther and Bates were laid out on couches in a locked room, but Ken had keys to every room in the house. He slipped in, unobserved. Their guns were German made, as he had guessed. Gunther had papers in his coat pockets. Letters, written in German. Ken read German better than he spoke it, but there were few clues to be found here. Unless the letters were in code. One of the letters did make reference to the Sultan Suleyman, though.

The Sultan.

Suleyman, who had built a vast Empire that included parts of Europe. Hungary. Austria. Roumania.

The dark eyed woman had been locked in another room. Ken unlocked this door, and stepped inside. The woman was seated on a chair, studiously ignoring Judith, who stood before her, with arms crossed. Ken almost backed up and left the room, but both women looked up, startled, as the door opened.

'I said to leave this to me,' Judith started to say. Then she seemed to realize who had interrupted her.

'You!' said the dark eyed woman.

'Yes,' said Ken. 'What exactly is it that you have against me?'

'You spied on us.'

Ken laughed. 'Only after you spied on us,' he pointed out.

'We were curious, that is all,' said the woman. 'I saw you one day, in the marketplace. Starsky's tame spirit. Most people had heard of you, but I could see you. You are fair, like my master. I described you to him, and my master wondered....'

'If I was on his side, or against him,' said Ken.

'Yes. So he sent his servants to watch you. He couldn't discover what you were up to, but then you spied on him, and overheard.'

'I did,' said Hutch. 'And now I know. But why are you so eager to work with him, against your own people? Only because he's your master?'

'My own people? You know nothing. The Sultan is not my own people. I am Mamluk.'

'So? The Mamluk still govern Egypt.'

'I am the grand-daughter of Sultan Tumanbay,' said the woman. 'And here am I, a slave. And look around you. See what Selim did to Cairo. It is nothing, now. Nothing compared to what it was. Suleyman will do the same to Germany, my master told me. He must be stopped!'

'I see,' said Judith. 'He will be interested to hear that.'

The woman gasped. She had gone in one heartbeat from being the mere female accomplice in a private murder, to being a major plotter in treason against the most powerful ruler on earth.

She flung herself on the ground before Judith. 'Please. Have mercy,' she begged.

'As you had mercy on my Lord?' asked Judith.

'We didn't intend to kill him. My master wanted to kill the spirit. An evil spirit. It was an accident. Your husband got in the way.'

'I'm sure the Sultan will take all that into consideration,' said Judith. 'Calm yourself. You will need your strength to deal with your coming trial and execution.'

'I couldn't put it better myself,' said Ken.

 

************************

'I think my Lord has been wanting to see you,' said Judith, outside in the hallway. 'There is no need for you to stay away.'

'Thank you,' said Ken, though she could not hear his words.

'How did you know? About the treason, I mean?'

'Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.'

'I will send servants to the Governor's Palace,' Judith went on. 'The Governor, I hear, is a loyal supporter of the Sultan. Or at the least, he will be happy to appear to be so.'

'Yes. At the least.' said Ken.

'Do you think my Lord will die?' asked Judith. She looked young and frightened, all of a sudden, as well she might. 'Go!' she said. 'Go and speak to my Lord. Lend him your strength, as you have always done. I will see to the message to the Governor. Go!'

Starsky lay propped up against pillows. His breathing sounded harsh, in the small bedchamber. Benjamin Starsky was sitting by the bedside, holding his father's hand. To Ken's way of thinking, this was no place for such a young child, but in this time and place, children were treated like small adults, and expected to behave like them.

'Nice man,' said the baby. 'My father is hurt.'

'Yes,' said Ken. It was all he could manage to say.

'Can you fix him?' asked Ben.

'No,' said Ken. 'But he might get better. People do.'

'Sometimes they die,' said Ben.

It was true. Everyone died. Eventually.

'Ben?' Judith stood in the doorway to the bedchamber, the baby's nurse beside her. 'Go to Nurse,' she said. 'It it time for your supper.'

The nurse gathered up her charge, and carried him away. The room felt colder, thought Ken.

He bent down, and stroked Starsky's hair back from his brow. It was cold, and sweaty at the same time. Starsky opened his eyes, suddenly, and looked up. He smiled.

'Hutch,' he whispered.

'Don't talk,' said Ken. 'Save your strength.'

'For what?' asked Starsky. 'Ben is safe?'

'Yes. He's safe.'

'And Judith?'

'Yes. And the Governor is on the way here. We know what Gunther was up to.'

'Good,' said Starsky. 'Then it is only Me and Thee. Take my hand.'

Ken took Starsky's hands in his own.

'I said my goodbyes to Judith,' Starsky went on. 'There are letters for her, and for Ben. They have my instructions. Now it is just Me and Thee,' he said again.

'I can't say goodbye to you, Starsky.'

'No need. Hutch. I always knew this might happen. I felt it. Here. In my heart.'

Starsky's heart stopped beating. His breath rattled harshly in his throat. He gasped, trying to breathe.

Then, he vanished.

Ken could hear the cries of disbelief from the servants. Judith's voice.

'My Lord has not died,' she said. 'He has gone on a journey, to the realm of the spirits. The angels have spirited him away, to make him well. No, listen... His spirit friend is not evil. I will hear no more about it. My Lord's spirit friend has uncovered a plot against the Sultan, who has been a good friend to our people, and has not oppressed us. Would an evil spirit do that? No....'

Judith talked on, calming the frightened servants. She bustled them away, and the room fell silent.

'Hutch?' It was Judith, calling to him. 'He calls you that, does he not? Hutch?'

Ken couldn't answer.

'It is true, is it not? He is with you? I can feel that he is with you.'

If only that were true, thought Ken.

'Take care of him for me,' said Judith. 'Until he may return to me, whole and well.'

 

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End file.
